Stem Cells: The Hope And The Hype

Interesting...still reading it...

TIME.com: Stem Cells: The Hope And The Hype -- Aug. 7, 2006 -- Page 1: "Stem Cells: The Hope And The Hype"

Here is a list of the common lies put forth by people who support Embryonic stem cell research. The quoted text is from the article, which surpisingly actually does point out some of these lies (or hype)

Lie #1: A cure is just around the corner for you or your grandpa.

Last month, when President George W. Bush vetoed the bill that would have expanded funding for human embryonic-stem-cell (ESC) research, doctors got calls from patients with Parkinson's disease saying they weren't sure they could hang on for another year or two.


Lie #2 It's not a human life (but then they have to say "compared" to you or me). What gives them the right to compare one life to another? Why can't they just admit it is a human life and deal with it. Oh, we don't experiment on other humans, so admitting embryos are human life would kind of end the discussion.

Opponents of ESC research--starting with Bush--argue that you can't destroy life in order to save it; supporters argue that an eight-cell embryo doesn't count as a human life in the first place--not when compared with the life it could help save.


Lie #3: We only talking about embryos that would be destroyed anyways...

Extracting knowledge from embryos that would otherwise be wasted is one thing, but scientists admit that moving forward would require a much larger supply of fresh, healthy embryos than fertility clinics could ever provide.

Tied to #3 is the possibility that any cure might require embyroic cells related to the patient. So couples might create an embryo for the sole purpose of destroying it to save themselves. This is mentioned offten for some reason!

Lie #4: Bush's VETO a bill that would have fixed everything

Congress tried to address the problem with its bill to allow funding for research on any leftover embryos donated by infertility patients. But even if Bush hadn't vetoed the bill, it wouldn't have solved the supply problems. One study estimated that at best, a couple hundred cell lines might be derived from leftover IVF embryos, which tend to be weaker than those implanted in patients. The very fact that they come from infertile couples may mean they are not typical, and the process of freezing and thawing is hard on delicate cells.


Lie #5: The Scientific community reviews the "ethics" of all research. So I have to ask, just what is the "Scientific" basis for "Ethics"? When you have a bush of Scientists doing "ethics reviews' is it really surprising that they find doing science "ethical"? Also, is the option to shutdown ALL embryonic research really "on the table" in these reviews? It's a joke that they even go through the motions of these "reviews".

After exhaustive ethical review